2019 STAGES biennial

Plug In Institute of Contemporary Art pressents a site specific performance as part of the STAGES biennial

FASTWÜRMS
#witch_raku_skull_fire
featuring Kristin Snowbird and Theo Phelmus

Thursday, August 22, 2019 | 12pm-12am

Plug In Institute of Contemporary Art is thrilled to have the artist duo FASTWÜRMS in Winnipeg. They are here as part of the 2019 STAGES biennial. Join us Thursday, August 22 for #witch_raku_skull_fire by FASTWÜRMS with Winnipeg-based performers Theo Phelmus and Kristin Snowbird off-site at 90 Annabella Street, Winnipeg Manitoba.

For STAGES, FASTWÜRMS have choreographed a performance #witch_raku_skull_fire located in an old warehouse, bordering railway tracks and nestled on the industrial edge of downtown Winnipeg before the residential neighbourhood of Point Douglas. The site’s liminal position as close to the centre and on the cusp of residential land has an unclaimed, albeit contained, feral quality that is studied by the artist duo. They will use what was once a domesticated site occupied by several small working-class houses, turned brothels, before being subsumed by the commercial production site and warehouse of the neighbouring JR Watkins Company. The Company demolished the houses, cultivating a yard for its employees that has now long remained in various states of care as the building and site moved from various ownerships through the 20th and now 21st century. In imagining this land shifting back into an uncultivated, unindustrialized and decolonized space, FASTWÜRMS will host a durational performance from noon until midnight on August 22nd, creating a ‘camp’ spectacle with “C.A.T. cops”, a steaming caldron and the live theatrical firing of ceramic skulls. Their ritualization of the process of firing ceramics consecrates labour, by ‘ghosting’ the presence of absence and conjuring the politics of the colony and plantation.

Formed in 1979 by multidisciplinary artists Kim Kozzi and Dai Skuse of FASTWÜRMS is known for their diverse immersive practice that explores identity, humour, magic and social exchange. Their practice takes the form of public commissions, installation, video, performance, and drawing. Together they teach studio art at the University of Guelph, Ontario. Their work has been shown extensively in North America and Internationally at venues including the Power Plant (Toronto), Contemporary Art Gallery (Vancouver), Ontario Art Gallery (Toronto), CIAC (Montréal), Walter Phillips Gallery (Banff), SEQUENCES Festival (Reykjavik, Iceland), Seoul Museum of Art (Seoul, Korea) Leokonig Projekte (New York) and the 2006 São Paulo Biennial, Brazil. FASTWÜRMS is represented by Paul Petro Contemporary Art, Toronto.

Location: In the garden of 90 Annabella Street, Winnipeg

Performance Date: August 22, 2019 from 12pm to 12am

Additional information: Wheelchair accessible; portage washroom on site; food will be served and drinks maybe purchased.

Entry is free and all are welcome.


Stages biennial 2019
August 16 to September 08, 2019

A temporary public art exhibition of installation, sculpture, and performance through out Winnipeg

Featured Artists:
RAYMOND BOISJOLY
DANIEL BUREN
FASTWURMS
KENNETH LAVALLEE
JOAR NANGO
SILKE OTTO-KNAPP
ANDREA ROBERTS


Curated by Jenifer Papararo



This is the second iteration of the STAGES biennial presented by Plug In ICA. This year’s exhibition builds on the previous edition in its presentation of temporary public sculpture, installation and performances throughout Winnipeg, but 2019 has an expanded range and includes the remounting of an historic artwork. The biennial commissions seven artworks that take place across the city and its outskirts in abandoned industrial sites, apartment buildings, malls, municipal parks and parking lots.

For details on each artist’s project including maps and event notifications please download the Plug In ICA App, available for iphone and android. Search “Plug In ICA” in the App store. All information also available on our website: plugin.org